In a basic RF trunked system there exists a high degree of flexibility to partition voice conversations between different groups so that no one group of users is specifically aware when another group of users makes use of the system. Typically, these groups are subdivided into subgroups so that calls may be made upon either a group, subgroup or individual basis depending upon the type of communication desired by an initiating subscriber.
To establish a voice communication between a group of units operating on a trunked system, a subscriber unit transmits a data packet called an "inbound signalling word" (ISW) on a control channel that is maintained for such purposes. The ISW contains at least the requesting unit's unique ID code, which may contain or be used to obtain the requesting subscriber's current talk-group. The request is forwarded to a central controller, which decodes the request, and transmits on the control channel a data pocket called an "outbound signalling word" (OSW) to all subscriber units, which continuously monitor the control channel when not participating in a voice conversation. The OSW is a channel grant which contains the talk-group code of the requesting unit, and the voice channel number assigned for the conversation. The OSW causes the requesting unit to move to the voice channel and commence transmitting, while simultaneously causing all other subscriber units in the same talk-group to move to the voice channel as listening units. In this way a group call is set up. If, however, all voice channels are in use when a subscriber unit transmits an ISW, the central controller typically sends the requesting subscriber a "busy OSW".
In addition to voice messages, it is desirable to send data information across a trunked radio channel. In some data systems, a subscriber unit obtains a trunked data communication channel via the same procedure used to obtain a voice channel. However, this practice is inefficient and spectrally wasteful, due to the time it takes for a requesting subscriber to transmit an ISW and receive a channel grant OSW from the central, and the time it takes to set-up and clear-down the call on the voice channel. At contemporary data transmission rates, it is anticipated that an entire typical data message would take substantially less time to transmit than the time required to obtain a channel (approximately 0.5 seconds). Thus, assigning a data channel pursuant to the same procedure as assigning a voice channel would be wasteful of spectrum and consume precious system time that could be better used to transmit data messages.
Other trunked communication systems desirous to accommodate data traffic have permanently dedicated one or more channels to handling data traffic. While this avoids the access time problem noted above, this technique is contrary to the basic principles of trunked communication systems, which strive to allocate channel resources across a plurality of users as required. Therefore, the practice of having dedicated data channels, permanently removed from the channel allocation "pool" of frequencies, is wasteful of spectral resources and leads to inefficient system operation. Moreover, the dedicated data channel systems lack the capacity to dynamically redistribute or allocate the data traffic load across the available data channels. Such systems typically permanently assign a subscriber unit to a data channel thereby building in future problems as the number of data subscribers increases on a particular channel.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a trunked communication system that can accommodate both voice and data signals, and that operates in true trunked manner to efficiently utilize spectral resources.